The Strange Smile of Natori Shuuichi
by RiverDaisy
Summary: As told in the eyes of his manager, Nishihara Isei. "Natori was exceeding polite and constantly exuded a charisma hard to ignore, even if he came off as a little strange at times." A haunted movie set invites the arrival of an exorcist and Nishihara sees a side of his client that he never saw before. Please read & review.


Nishihara Isei was comfortable with his job. Sure, as an idol manager, his schedule was more than often no less than packed. Not to mention most of his work had to be done on the go. However, he was if anything, an organised person. His CD rack was sorted by artist then year while his movie rack was sorted by genre then alphabetised. He had all his clients schedules memorised by heart and knew which places to check if they ever ignored his phone calls. There were one or two more problematic ones but on a whole, he got along well with the lot of them.

Perhaps the most surprisingly cooperative client he had was Natori Shuuichi. With killer looks to accompany a killer smile and a definite talent for acting, it seemed that the young idol already had his path carved out for him. Not to mention, he was exceeding polite and constantly exuded a charisma hard to ignore, even if he came off as a little strange at times. Truly Nishihara Isei couldn't have asked for a better client, except for the slight hiccup of running off to who knows where on certain nights. But every person had their vices so Nishihara was not going to pry. So long as Natori's face didn't end up on the first page of the gossip pages, he could be joining his family in the forest for some fortnightly ritual for all Nishihara cared.

Currently, Natori had managed to snag a role in a horror film, which was a lucky break for him since Nishihara was starting to worry he would end up a too specialised actor in romantic films. Honestly, with that talent, it would have been a waste. And even more fortunate was the fact that the role he acquired happened to be that an antagonist. If he succeeded, Natori's career could only move upwards.

With his hair dyed back to black and golden contacts in his eyes, Natori pulled off a subtly supernatural look unpredictably well. Again, Nishihara found himself impressed by his favourite client, for looks alone could not atone for the way Natori moved gracefully across the set as if he were floating nor the eyes of morbid amusement twinkling on a friendly face. In a way, Nishihara was fascinated by the way 'flower-boy' Natori Shuuichi could look so intimidating. This movie was bound to become a hit.

It was midway through the film when they hit a rock, figuratively. Maybe it was the amazingly realistic creepy set they had, or maybe the crew had been engrossed in the film a little too much, but rumours started flying every which way about ghosts destroying the props or haunted visits to the crew members. Nishihara was a logical being and believed it was nothing more than imaginings of what may not be such a professional crew after all. When he released a slew of complaints to Natori when they ended up cancelling a whole day of filming, Natori merely eyed something off to the distance and smiled his lady-killer smile. Not for the first time, Nishihara felt a strange vibe from that smile of his.

The next time they had to postpone their filming was because the set had completely collapsed for no apparent reason. Nothing showed up on the surveillance cameras so the crew had no choice but to label it a structural defect while they rushed to repair it. Nishihara searched for Natori to invite him for lunch while they waited and found him behind the bulk of mess in the large hall. He was gesturing violently while hissing something curtly to the air. When Nishihara called out his name, Natori turned, spotted him and put on that damned smile again, blushing a little while he confessed to be practicing his lines. They ended up eating sushi for lunch and were unproductive for the rest of the day, to Nishihara's chagrin.

After the next major incident involving the lights blowing out simultaneously and some heavy equipment falling over to almost hit the lead actress, they decided to call in an exorcist if not to solve their poltergeist problem, then to at least quell the fears of the more superstitious crew members.

The next morning greeted them with the arrival of a strange young lad in a business suit, a paper umbrella in one hand and half his face covered with a white cloth. Honestly, apart from his youth, the marketing of his image as an exorcist was rather convincing. However, the strangest moment had to be when the 'exorcist' greeted Natori then proceed to fling a poisonous barb at his client about 'losing his edge' or some such thing. When Natori rebutted in his own vague way, Nishihara could only assume that they were somehow acquainted with each other. As to how they were acquainted, Nishihara did not wish to pry, but was nonetheless genuinely curious. Thankfully, Natori offered that piece of information rather quickly, chuckling as he mentioned about his overly superstitious family and about how the Matobas were a famous exorcist clan.

The whole ceremony was not as elaborate as Nishihara expected. There weren't any circle of monks chanting, nor a slow procession pasting up charms all over the walls, nor was there a shaman performing a dance as if possessed. The young exorcist (a 'Matoba Seiji' according to the name card he gave out) merely drew a medium sized runic circle onto the floor, placed a small jar in the centre then called out a taunt. Seconds later, there was a strong draft in the room and the man lifted the bow in his hands, which was handed to him by a servant, and pulled on what he assumed was the bowstring. His eye narrowed in anticipation and his lips were pulled into a smirk as his hands steadied as if he were aiming. Then the bowstring was released, though there was no arrow, and on closer scrutinisation, nor was there a bowstring. The jar rattled gently before the air calmed around them. As hard pressed as Nishihara was to admit, there was something supernatural involved, or it had been a really convincing and elaborately well-executed hoax.

As the exorcist team prepared to leave, Nishihara watched as the young Seiji conversed with a smiling Natori. But this time, it was a different smile Nishihara had never seen before. Typically, it merely felt a little off, which Nishihara merely chalked up to the underlying weirdness he knew existed in Natori. This smile, however, had an edge to it and a glint in Natori's eye. At that moment, Nishihara finally realised what was off about Natori's typical smile. Beneath that flowery façade was a coldness and sharpness that Natori didn't reveal to the world.

* * *

Thank you for reading and please review! See that button there? Click it and leave some form of message, even if it is as simple as a 'Love it!' or a 'Hate it!'


End file.
